Friday, May 29, 2009

Following the introduction of the historic LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act last week

TO BE NOTED: From Resolve Uganda:

"
Weekly Roundup for May 23-29: UN peacekeepers unable to prevent LRA attack on major Congolese town
Following the introduction of the historic LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act last week, we're beginning to see unprecedented attention from US policymakers. In just the last few days, numerous Members of Congress have spoken out on the conflict and the need for increased leadership from the US to achieve peace. (If you're interested in finding out more, you can download the new brief we released this week that outlines what the bill does).

We've set a goal of raising $10,000 by the end of today to help keep this momentum going and to make sure this legislation gets passed.
If you can, will you take just a moment and donate $25 to help us meet our deadline?

Now onto the news....

The Good: The UN announced that the first of 3,000 troop reinforcements will arrive in the DR Congo as early as next month to boost the embattled peacekeeping force there.

The Bad: The LRA launched a
bold attack on the Congolese town of Dungu last weekend, just miles away from where a contingent of UN peacekeepers are stationed.

The Ugly: The Ugandan government continues to torture prisoners and undermine press freedom with impunity, according to a human rights report
issued this week by Amnesty International.

Regional Security


Situation in Northern Uganda

  • Decades of war and government neglect have left northern Uganda the most marginalized region of Uganda, according to research done by Uganda's Independent magazine. Northern Ugandans are woefully underrepresented at senior levels of the Ugandan government and have dramatically higher poverty levels and school drop-out rates than other parts of the country.
  • Amnesty International released a report highlighting the precarious state of human rights in Uganda, highlighting the Ugandan government's continued interference with press freedom, abuse of prisoners, and failure to prosecute violence against women and girls as a criminal offense.


International Response

  • Resolve Uganda Senior Policy Analyst Paul Ronan (yup, that's me) spoke yesterday to Voice of America about the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act and how its passing could spark unprecedented efforts by the US government to stop LRA violence and support sustainable peace in northern Uganda. (Click here to read our new brief about the legislation.)

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